GLAAD - Mark Regnerushttp://www.glaad.org/tags/mark-regnerus
enWhat is Mark Regnerus' new international video project?http://www.glaad.org/blog/what-mark-regnerus-new-international-video-project
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-0-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/images/2014-08/Mark-Regnerus.png?itok=ZxQX8QkG" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Mark Regnerus, who is now infamous in American political circles for his <a href="http://www.regnerusfallout.org">flawed, widely repudiated, far-right-concoted "study"</a> that was designed to slight same-sex parents in order to influence the 2012 elections and the Supreme Court, but that has <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/michigan_same_sex_marriage_ban_struck_down_along_with_fake_regnerus_research.html">ultimately backfired on the movement that designed it</a>. But now it seems that Mr. Regnerus might have international aspirations.</p>
<p>In a 9/17/14 Catholic radio appearance, right in the middle of a lengthy discussion on marriage equality, Regnerus revealed that he was just in a number of other nations filming some sort of video series that is presumably on the same subject:</p>
<blockquote><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/168297242&amp;color=ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe></blockquote>
<blockquote><p>SOURCE: <a href="http://relevantradio.com/audios/the-drew-mariani-show">Relevant Radio, 9/17/14</a></p></blockquote>
<p>All of the nations that Regnerus mentioned have some sort of marriage equality or LGBT rights debate going on. In Mexico, recent court developments <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_of_same-sex_unions_in_Mexico">have allowed marriage equality in some areas but not others</a>. France has been a bit of a ground zero for American activists, with Regnerus' allies at the National Organization For Marriage <a href="http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201304240001">working very closely with</a> Parisian activists in the go-nowhere hope of overturning equality. In Lebanon, a landmark court ruling <a href="http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/lebanon-court-lgbt-is-not-a-crime-nor-against-nature">recently determined that same-sex relations are not a crime</a>. And then in Nigeria, you have a similar situation as Uganda, with local activists and courts literally <a href="http://oblogdeeoblogda.me/2014/09/17/nigerian-lgbt-defenders-await-court-decision-on-anti-gay-law/">debating whether or not LGBT people should have to spend lifetimes in prison or face the death penalty</a>.</p>
<p>I guess it could be coincidence that these nations, which have all been in the news over the past two years precisely for their LGBT rights/marriage debates, just so happen to be the locales where a man best known for his anti-equality activism did his filming. But considering he mentioned them as part of his broader discussion about LGBT rights, I think it's a pretty safe bet that whatever he was filming, and for whomever he was filming it, involves international advocacy against LGBT equality which, as as many of us who pay attention to these things keep noting, <a href="http://www.hrc.org/campaigns/exporters-of-hate">seems to be the new focus</a> for American activists who are dismayed by their fortunes here at home.</p>
<p>Perhaps Regnerus is helping NOM launch its long-percolating <a href="http://www.hrc.org/nomexposed/entry/nom-launching-an-international-organization-for-marriage-france-connections">International Organization For Marriage</a>? It's worth asking the question. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">September 18, 2014</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/international">international</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/mexico">mexico</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/france">France</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/lebanon">Lebanon</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/nigeria">Nigeria</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/national-organization-marriage">National Organization for Marriage</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/glaadcap-0">#glaadcap</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 15:26:30 +0000jeremyhooper72249 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/what-mark-regnerus-new-international-video-project#commentsMark Regnerus' new "study" tries to prove pro-LGBT Christians are badhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/mark-regnerus-new-study-tries-prove-pro-lgbt-christians-are-bad
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-1-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img id="1" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/images/2014-08/Mark-Regnerus.png?itok=ZxQX8QkG" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Mark Regnerus, the "sociology scholar" (if one can call him that) who is most famous for his thoroughly debunked study on same-sex parenting, came out with a new "study" trying to "prove" that pro-LGBT Christians will lead to an immoral, sexually unrestrained world. Like his first study, Regnerus' new study is clearly motivated by politics as opposed to sophisticated scholarship and contains weak arguments.</p>
<p>For those of you unfamiliar with Regnerus' previous study, a rehash can help provide context for this "researcher's" reliability. A couple years back, Regnerus, an assistant professor at the University of Texas no one had heard of, suddenly made the national spotlight when anti-LGBTQ equality activists rallied around a study he had just published. <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/flawed-paper-claims-overturn-30-years-credible-research-shows-gay-and-lesbian-parents-are-good">The "study" showed that children raised by same-sex parents fared worse in comparison to children raised by heterosexual couples.</a> The only problem with the study, however, was that the study didn't actually study children raised by same-sex parents. Instead, the study, <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/13/45683" target="_blank">except for less than 1% of participants</a>, examined adults had been raised decades ago in what was called "broken" homes; and, as David Badash of <a href="http://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/discredited_sociologist_mark_regnerus_unveils_his_latest_study_based_on_attacking_same_sex_marriage?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNewCivilRightsMovement+%28The+New+Civil+Rights+Movement%29" target="_blank">The New Civil Rights Movement</a> aptly notes, "Naturally, children raised in troubled homes might be more likely to have emotional challenges as adults -- which is why marriage, including same-sex marriage, is important."</p>
<p>The study was so obviously flawed, <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht">liberals and conservatives alike criticized it. </a>When the study was used as evidence in a federal court case, <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/michigan-judge-denies-testimony-unqualified-anti-lgbt-activists-regnerus-still-good-testify">the judge dismissed it as "entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration." </a>It was later revealed that the study was driven by its anti-LGBTQ equality agenda from the start, further confirming that it in no way undermined the consensus of studies that in fact show children raised by same-sex couples fare just as well as children raised by any other parents.<img height="144" width="220" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;" class="media-element file-file-styles-medium" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/mark-regnerus-6.jpg?itok=tUpn8lOJ" alt="" /></p>
<p>After being so embarrassingly and thoroughly debunked, the fact that <a href="http://www.bilerico.com/2014/08/nom_trumpets_new_regnerus_slippery-slope_study.php" target="_blank">anti-LGBTQ groups are now taking Regnerus' new "study" seriously</a> shows how desperate these groups to persuade the public.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2014/08/12/66419"><em>Box Turtle Bulletin</em>'s</a> analysis, Jim Burroway makes a good point that Regnerus' new "study" is not a published, scholarly study but a blog post, despite how seriously anti-LGBTQ groups are taking it.</p>
<p>In short, Regnerus' blog post, rather than targeting same-sex parents, targets pro-LGBT Christians and attempts to prove that favoring marriage equality leads to a sexually unrestrained, immoral world – a range of "Very Bad Things," Burroway puts it. In demonstrating his claim, Regnerus compares churchgoing Christians who oppose marriage equality to churchgoing Christians who support marriage equality in their views on pornography, premarital cohabitation, divorce, polyamory, and abortion. For further comparison, Regnerus also surveys the views of Christian and non-Christian gays and lesbians ("notice here he drops “Churchgoing” — is this yet another <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/11/45581">apples to horse meat comparison</a> that he’s so fond of?"), as well as those of the general population.</p>
<p>The findings? Churchgoing Christians who support marriage equality are more like to support Regnerus' list of Very Bad Things than churchgoing Christians who oppose marriage equality. Gay and lesbian Christians are even more likely to support Very Bad Things, and, Burroway writes, "for Gay and Lesbian non-Christians, the numbers are off the charts. Speaking of charts, he handily provides this one that others can pull out and repost, shorn of all context and the few caveats he bothers to throw in:"</p>
<p><img height="309" width="480" class="media-element file-file-styles-large" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/images/2014-08/Regnerus-Graph.jpg?itok=gdkjwysd" alt="" /></p>
<p>Why is Regnerus' new "study" so suspect? Burroway writes,</p>
<blockquote><p>Like I said, this isn’t a study. It doesn’t have any of the hallmarks of a study, not even like those you’ll find in his <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/10/45512">deliberately flawed study</a> that a low-ranked journal <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/15/45638">bent over backwards</a> to publish for political reasons. He calls this Religion In America survey “a population-based sample, meaning that its results are nationally representative,” but he doesn’t describe how it came about. For a real study, you can’t just say that and leave it at that. He also doesn’t provide any of the standard tests to show which comparisons are statistically relevant in his chart. Even the lowest ranking journals would reject a study outright if it doesn’t include that critical information. And as I said, he doesn’t define some of his subpopulation categories, and we’ve already seen how he has exploited those definitions to <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/10/45512">force the results</a> he wants to get. We have ample grounds to question whether he’s up to that old trick again. So until he publishes these results with at least a <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/21/45576">thin veneer of rigor</a>, there really isn’t much to see here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Beyond methodology, Regnerus' conclusions are much too simplistic by academic standards. Regnerus assumes that support of marriage equality is an isolated variable; in other words, that supporting marriage equality directly <em>causes</em> one to support Very Bad Things. Although Regnerus says in his article that he is not making this "slippery slope" argument, the blog post's title "Tracking Christian Sexual Morality in a Same-Sex Marriage Future,” says otherwise. History shows that Regnerus including a caveat in a study does not stop him from ignoring these caveats when talking to the public to make his argument seem stronger than it actually is:</p>
<blockquote><p>When he published that so-called “gay parenting study” in 2012, he peppered it with <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/10/45512">a host of caveats</a>:</p>
<p>The NFSS is not a longitudinal study, and therefore cannot attempt to broach questions of causation. … It does not evaluate the offspring of gay marriages, since the vast majority of its respondents came of age prior to the legalization of gay marriage in several states … American courts are finding arguments against gay marriage decreasingly persuasive. This study is intended to neither undermine nor affirm any legal rights concerning such.</p>
<p>But when Regnerus spoke to the press, he resolutely <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2012/06/13/45683">abandoned</a> all of those caveats. My prediction: he’ll do the same with the slippery slope argument. My reaction: good luck with that. Marriage equality opponents have been flailing that dead horse for more than a decade, and there is zero evidence that it has moved the needle one iota in their direction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Burroway also points out that Regnerus' obvious implication that supporting marriage equality causes one to support Very Bad Things has a precedent in overly simplistic, radical anti-LGBTQ equality rhetoric:</p>
<blockquote><p>It’s reminiscent of what <em>The Weekly Standard’s</em> Stanley Kurtz <a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/660zypwj.asp">tried to claim</a> in 2004 when he said that Registered Partnerships in Scandinavia (there was no same-sex marriage at the time) had already led to more divorces, fewer marriages and more out-of-wedlock children, while ignoring the fact that those trends were well in place long before the idea of recognizing same-sex relationships came along. In other words, same-sex marriage (or registered partnerships) was not a controlling variable for those other trends, and there’s no reason to believe it’s a controlling variable for Regnerus’s Very Bad Things here.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Even assuming the study <em>is</em> perfectly sound, which is very unlikely, what exactly does it "prove"? According to Regnerus, it's that supporting marriage equality will lead you to support anything-goes sex, and unlimited abortion, and so on.</p>
<p>Burroway provides a far more logical explanation:</p>
<blockquote><p>Those who oppose marriage equality are much more likely to be the kinds of busybodies with Deeply Held Beliefs about how <em>other</em> people should live their lives. They may say they they oppose pre-marital sex, extra-martial sex, no-strings sex, and getting divorced despite having children — for other people — but they will wind up doing those many of those Very Bad Things themselves at rates rather similar to, and in some cases (<a href="http://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&amp;story=137892">divorce</a>, for example) higher than many other people, despite what they may say in a survey.</p>
<p>Conversely, those who support marriage equality are more likely to have a healthier, more <em>laissez-faire</em> attitude toward how other people order their lives, and they tend to be much less judgmental of other people. And gays and lesbians, who have experienced a lifetime of busybodies giving them unrealistic, unsolicited edicts in how to order their lives, are the most reluctant of all to turn around and do the same to others. And what about the Population Average? Well, nobody likes a busybody.</p>
</blockquote>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">August 14, 2014</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/religion-and-faith">Religion and Faith</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/christianity">christianity</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/junk-science">junk science</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">Marriage Equality</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 21:04:02 +0000jpulitano71968 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/mark-regnerus-new-study-tries-prove-pro-lgbt-christians-are-bad#commentsThe one where Regnerus, most criticized researcher in recent memory, criticizes others' researchhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/one-where-regnerus-most-criticized-researcher-recent-memory-criticizes-others-research
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-2-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img id="2" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/Mark-Regnerus%5B1%5D.png?itok=E_83wK4q" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>University of Texas at Austin associate professor and researcher <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/rigorous-about-regnerus-case-study-bullshit-detection">Mark Regnerus</a> has some nerve. We'll get to that in a second. First, to remind you of some key facts pertaining to Regnerus's so-called New Family Structures Study, which ever anti-gay group (most notably the National Organization For Marriage) promoted in 2012 in hopes of steering elections their way:</p>
<blockquote><ul><li>
<p>While purporting to reach concrete findings about same-sex parents, Regnerus didn't actually compare kids who were raised by stable, coupled same-sex parents with those raised by opposite-sex counterparts. He only found two respondents who were raised by committed same-sex (lesbian, in this case) parents for their entire childhoods.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Major funding for Regnerus's Study came from the Witherspoon Institute, a conservative think tank co-founded by Robert George, who also co-founded the National Organization For Marriage and wrote the text of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Documents show that there was some degree of coordination between the funder and the study, most notably in the form of W. Bradford Wilcox, who was, at the time, a fellow at Witherspoon.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>His Witherspoon funders specifically told Regnerus <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/10/supreme-court-gay-marriage_n_2850302.html">that they wanted his study to be completed before the Supreme Court took up marriage cases</a>. For obvious reasons.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>The American Sociological Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association have all <a href="http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/new-family-structures-study">publicly criticized Regnerus's work</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Judge Bernard A. Friedman, a Reagan-appointed judge with the Federal District Court in Detroit, wrote in his opinion striking down Michigan's marriage ban that <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/michigan_same_sex_marriage_ban_struck_down_along_with_fake_regnerus_research.html">“The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration</a>,” adding that Regnerus's research was “<a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/michigan_same_sex_marriage_ban_struck_down_along_with_fake_regnerus_research.html">hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder"</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>An internal audit of Regnerus' work determined that <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/controversial-gay-parenting-study-is-severely-flawed-journals-audit-finds/30255">his "severely flawed" research never should have been published</a></p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Increasingly, Regnerus has turned himself into an anti-gay activist, appearing <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/06/03/2091571/anti-gay-researcher-confirms-religious-bias-at-nom-conference/">at conferences</a> and <a href="http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2014/05/audio-unbiased-researcher-ha-ha-ha-mark-regnerus-plays-anti-equality-pundit-adviser.html">on radio programs</a> geared toward stopping same-sex marriage.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Further showing his real feelings, Regnerus has made some truly ludicrous claims about why equality is to be feared, like suggesting same-sex marriage <a href="https://soundcloud.com/goodasyou/mark-regnerus-gay-marriage">will grant straight men "permission to stray" and will lead to more "sexual novelty"</a></p>
</li>
</ul><p>(<em>*More facts can be found at <a href="http://www.regnerusfallout.org">RegnerusFallout.org</a> and elsewhere on the web</em>)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The rebuke has been loud, multi-faceted, and thorough. And even though a small smattering of social conservatives (but not that many, frankly) have tried to defend his work, the defense has fallen flat. The work is just that flawed; the biases are just that obvious.</p>
<p>Yet this week, in the online publication for the <em>very same</em> Witherspoon Institute that funded and propelled his junk study for political gain, Mark Regnerus has the gall to go after <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/study-shows-children-raised-same-sex-parents-thrive">a new Australian study that suggests kids of same-sex parents are doing quite well</a>. Despite the shoddiness of his own sample (the biggest and earliest criticism of Regnerus's study), Regnerus bases most of his major criticism around who the Australian researchers recruited and how they recruited them. Calling the outcome "suspect science" and attacking the methodology, Regnerus for some reason thinks he—<em>he</em>, of all people—has the intellectual capital to make the key counterpoint. </p>
<p>Full post at link:</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/07/13451/">Is Same-Sex Parenting Better for Kids? The New Australian Study Can’t Tell Us by Mark Regnerus</a><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>[The Witherspoon Institute's Public Discourse site]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It takes a lot of hubris to earn the takedowns that Regnerus has and to still pretend that you are the one to criticize other researchers' work. But to do so on the online journal (one that is edited by <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/ryan-t-anderson">anti-gay activist Ryan T. Anderson</a>, no less) of the very organization that concocted the whole charade? That takes a special kind of hubris unique to the anti-gay conservative movement! </p>
<p>As for the substance of Regnerus's pushback, here is some of what else he has to say:</p>
<blockquote><p><img height="501" width="653" style="float: left; height: 230px; width: 300px;" class="media-element file-media-original" src="https://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/1200px/public/images/2014-07/publicdiscourse.png?itok=dyd3HowC" alt="" /></p><p><strong>B</strong><strong>ut will same-sex parents’ relationships be more or less stable in the future? On the one hand, we know that same-sex relationships in general—across multiple datasets—remain more fragile than opposite-sex ones (and to be fair, no group is performing all that well). We can argue about why this is so, but it is. Nevertheless, it’s too early to tell if this remains the case with same-sex marriages, given their comparatively small number and the pent-up demand (reflecting greater longevity) characteristic of the earliest marriages.</strong></p>
<p><strong>On the other hand, the “planned” nature of new forms of same-sex parenting (e.g., ART) no doubt reflects more deliberation (and more money) than most unplanned pregnancies, even though all such ART and surrogacy births reflect diminished kinship. That is, somebody’s not a biological parent of the child. In parenting studies, wealth and planning are beneficial resources, while diminished kinship is a risk.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Whether such “planned” parenthood is the new normal—the average—in same-sex relationships is unknown. I have my doubts. But there’s no doubt that this is the face of same-sex parenting: the well-adjusted, ART-generated child of a 30-something, upper-middle-class lesbian mother and her partner. It’s what scholars, judges, and the media demand as a comparison category today. The [Australian study] certainly delivered on that. And yet the reality of same-sex relationships in parents’ lives—the average experience—has been something quite different, as the NFSS revealed.</strong></p>
<p><strong>This was brought home to me during a recent conversation with a University of Colorado professor. He shared with me that he and his family live next door to a woman—a mother—who’s been through three same-sex relationships in the past several years that they’ve been neighbors. The professor relayed that on numerous occasions he’d find himself in his back yard playing with his kids, only to notice the neighbor’s son peering over the fence, watching. The boy’s mother, aware of this, confessed to the professor, “I’m doing the best I can.”</strong></p>
<p><strong>If the NFSS’s accounts of household instability do not portend the future of gay parenting in America—and they may not—then you can expect stories like this to become rarer in reality as same-sex parenting arrangements indeed outperform their peers. But I know better than to expect social realities to change as rapidly as have attitudes about same-sex marriage.</strong></p>
<p><strong>I sometimes wonder why I even bother voicing such concerns. In my short legal career, I witnessed US District Court Judge Bernard Friedman dismiss my NFSS-based study and the analyses of US and Canadian census data by my colleagues, preferring to appear hip at his dinner parties by throwing our evidence under the bus rather than responding to it. In a nation that seems to be rapidly devolving into one big junior high school, evidence no longer appears to matter. Only allegiances do.</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the first three passages that I snipped for the above sound mostly scholarly and even-handed, the real key points are found in the three that follow. In the first of that final trio, Regnerus uses one anecdote about a friend's lesbian neighbor to suggest that the real face of same-sex parenting is "something quite different" than what others will have you believe. In the second of the closing three paragraphs, Regnerus insists that "he knows better than to expect social realities to change as rapidly as have attitudes about same-sex marriage," which is both an egotistical and an unsupportable point for him to make. And then in the closing, he preteneds that the judge who smacked down his "research" in a court of law was simply doing so to "appear hip at dinner parties," that this whole debate is playing out like "junior high," and that "only allegiances" really matter any more. </p>
<p>These closing thoughts tell you just about all you need to know about what Mark Regnerus has—and, more importantly, has <em>not</em>—learned during the two years of scrutiny through which he has lived. In the first, he is showing that he still has a bias, if not zeal, for portraying kids of gay parents as longing and in need of something they don't have; in the second, he is showing that he really does think that he has a window to the future, even if his only really insight was driven by biases of the past; and in the third, he is showing that he will not take any responsibility for the damage he, per his own professional volition, brought to the debate, the science, the institutions that surround him, and the many living, breathing same-sex parents who have to spend time defending ourselves against a "study" that was always more of a PR campaign than it was a serious attempt at fair findings.</p>
<p>The real problem for Regnerus is that both LGBT advocates and mainstream decision-makers saw right through his own allegiances and called them out for what they were and are. Doubling down now won't change that.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">July 9, 2014</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/australia">Australia</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/witherspoon-institute">Witherspoon Institute</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/ryan-t-anderson-0">Ryan T. Anderson</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Wed, 09 Jul 2014 17:23:32 +0000jeremyhooper71627 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/one-where-regnerus-most-criticized-researcher-recent-memory-criticizes-others-research#commentsAdd a federal judge to list of people who discredit Mark Regnerushttp://www.glaad.org/blog/add-federal-judge-list-people-who-discredit-mark-regnerus
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-3-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img id="3" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/Mark-Regnerus.jpg?itok=lDBFWPRu" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Today, a judge <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/judge-rules-michigans-marriage-equality-ban-unconstitutional">struck down Michigan's ban on marriage equality</a>, which is a victory in itself. But Judge Bernard A. Friedman also completely ripped apart the testimony of one "expert" witness, Mark Regnerus. Regnerus' <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht">thoroughly flawed and discredited</a> "parenting study" has not been able to pass courtroom muster. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/michigan_same_sex_marriage_ban_struck_down_along_with_fake_regnerus_research.html">Slate.com reports:</a></p>
<blockquote><p>The grooming of conservative experts appeared to be falling into place when Michigan called Regnerus and three other witnesses to describe research allegedly showing gay marriage and parenting harms kids. Regnerus <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/clerk-will-follow-judges-orders-gay-marriage" target="_blank">testified</a> that, based on his research, he believed “we aren’t anywhere near saying there's conclusive evidence” that children of gay parents fare as well as others, and that, “until we get more evidence, we should be skeptical” of any such claims. “The most prudent thing to do,” he <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/211059750/Day-5-Part-2-of-2-Monday-March-3" target="_blank">concluded</a>, “is wait and evaluate some of these changes over time before making any radical moves around marriage.”</p>
<p>But on <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/211060684/Day-6-Part-1-of-3-Tuesday-March-4" target="_blank">cross-examination</a> by the ACLU’s Leslie Cooper, Regnerus’ testimony quickly broke down. Cooper forced Regnerus to admit that he had sought to conceal the role of conservative funders and of his religious faith in influencing his research, both of which were later <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/129660276/Mark-Regners-and-Witherspoon-Institute-Collaboration-Report" target="_blank">revealed with smoking gun evidence</a> from his <a href="http://tcc.trnty.edu/alumni/profiles/regnerus/" target="_blank">prior words</a>. He acknowledged that he was “not a fan of same sex marriage” before he started his research and that his opposition to it was not primarily based on his research conclusions. And he had to concede that he had singled out gay couples in opposing their right to marry based on alleged family instability: Aware that African-Americans, the poor, step-families and divorced people are all at higher statistical risk of marital collapse and family instability, he nonetheless had no strong opinion on whether those folks should be banned from marrying—just gays, strongly suggesting his views are rooted in bias above all.</p>
<p>…</p>
<p>Judge Friedman didn’t fall for any of it. “The Court finds Regnerus’s testimony entirely unbelievable and not worthy of serious consideration,” he wrote in what must be one of the most stinging and decisive repudiations of an expert witness in memory. He cited evidence that the conservative research was “hastily concocted at the behest of a third-party funder” which clearly expressed its wish for skewed results. Dismissing the defense’s other witnesses just as strongly, the judge wrote that “The Court was unable to accord the testimony of Marks, Price, and Allen any significant weight.” He concluded that “The most that can be said of these witnesses’ testimony is that the ‘no differences’ consensus has not been proven with scientific certainty, not that there is any credible evidence showing that children raised by same-sex couples fare worse than those raised by heterosexual couples.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/03/21/michigan_same_sex_marriage_ban_struck_down_along_with_fake_regnerus_research.html">Read Slate.com for the full story.</a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">March 21, 2014</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/local-and-regional-news">Local and Regional News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">Marriage Equality</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/michigan">Michigan</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Sat, 22 Mar 2014 03:37:13 +0000rossmurray70278 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/add-federal-judge-list-people-who-discredit-mark-regnerus#commentsMichigan: Judge denies testimony from 'unqualified' anti-LGBT activists, Regnerus still good to testifyhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/michigan-judge-denies-testimony-unqualified-anti-lgbt-activists-regnerus-still-good-testify
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-4-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img id="4" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/images/2014-03/MIGayFamily.JPG?itok=WHIzWn9g" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>As Michigan's marriage equality ban continues in trial, we've seen anti-LGBT activists come out in full force.</p>
<p><img height="220" width="190" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;" class="media-element file-file-styles-medium" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/images/2014-03/sherif_girgis.jpg?itok=Mu_637WI" alt="" />The judge overseeing rejected the testimony of anti-LGBT 'expert' witness, Sherif Girgis, stating that just having an anti-LGBT opinion doesn't qualify him as an 'expert'. U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman said, "He’s very eloquent … but right now, all he is offering to us is mainly his opinions." Giris is not a lawyer, child development expert, psychologist or expert in Michigan law, though the Princeton PhD philosophy candidate has <a href="http://www.harvard-jlpp.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GeorgeFinal.pdf">written an anti-LGBT biased report</a> with noted anti-LGBT activists (and noted <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap">CAP profiles</a>) <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/robert-george">Robert George</a> and <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/ryan-t-anderson">Ryan T. Anderson</a>.</p>
<p><img height="220" width="146" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;" class="media-element file-file-styles-medium" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/Mark-Regnerus.jpg?itok=nG87OFEh" alt="" />However, still being allowed to testify: Mark Regnerus, whose study has been widely discredited, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2014/03/04/3357631/regnerus-department-flawed/">even by his own university (University of Texas) and his own Sociology department</a>. The study claimed to find that households with same-sex parents were less supportive and nurturing than households with opposite-sex parents. In fact, the study actually compared homes with committed opposite-sex parents to broken homes headed by parents who had, at some point, had a same-sex relationship. These were hardly "same-sex households." Only two of the respondents were raised by a lesbian couple from birth.</p>
<p>On top of having been funded by the Witherspoon Institute, utilizing flawed research methods and undergoing faulty review processes, The American Independent <a href="http://americanindependent.com/219183/university-of-texas-professor-behind-controversial-study-wades-further-into-gay-marriage-debate">uncovered</a> a <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/mark-regnerus-was-coached-pretend-his-study-wasnt-biased">'media guide'</a> that was provided to Regnerus, which tells him exactly how to discuss his study, to further a conservative anti-gay agenda. The paper appeared in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12000610">Social Science Research</a>, which will also publish the results of an internal audit that found that that Regnerus's paper <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht">should never have been published in the first place</a>.</p>
<p><img height="220" width="173" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;" class="media-element file-file-styles-medium" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/images/2014-03/swimp.png?itok=Yc_Pzg4r" alt="" />Another anti-LGBT figure making hay around the trial is Pastor <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/michigan-stacy-swimp">Stacy Swimp</a>. Swimp has organized anti-LGBT rallies outside of the courthouse, which have <a href="http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=64920">been poorly attended</a>. Swimp is an advocate for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/stacyswimp/posts/624713440907373">so-called 'ex-gay' programs</a>, as well as <a href="http://stacyswimp.net/2013/05/24/do-scouts-have-an-oath-to-god-and-country/">pulling youth out of the Boy Scouts</a> after their decision to allow openly gay Scouts. He also claims LGBT activists<a href="https://www.facebook.com/stacyswimp/posts/696019213776795?stream_ref=10"> are the "bigoted" ones</a> for challenging religious condemnation. You can see his entire profile as a part of GLAAD's <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/michigan-stacy-swimp">Commentator Accountability Project</a>.</p>
<p>As the trial for marriage equality goes on, continue watching for leading anti-LGBT advocates, and ask the media to fully and accurately report the positions of those who are opposing marriage equality. They may speak in gentle-sounding talking points, but there is a fuller context behind their words. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">March 4, 2014</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/local-and-regional-news">Local and Regional News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">Marriage Equality</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/michigan">Michigan</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/glaadcap-0">#glaadcap</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/stacy-swimp">Stacy Swimp</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/robert-george">Robert George</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/ryan-t-anderson-0">Ryan T. Anderson</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:41:37 +0000rossmurray70063 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/michigan-judge-denies-testimony-unqualified-anti-lgbt-activists-regnerus-still-good-testify#commentsWhen research is really "research": A look at the Michigan Fourhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/when-research-really-research-look-michigan-four
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>GLAAD's <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap">Commentator Accountability Project</a> focuses on the commentators who appear in the print, digital, and broadcast media for the purposes of denigrating LGBT people and/or undermining equal civil rights. But what about those who do the same job but in more subtle, less media-trained ways? Their effects can often be as (if not more) damaging.</p>
<p>Case in point: Last week, the Michigan Attorney General's office announced that four people who have spent time on the subject of families headed by same-sex couples will defend in court that state's bans on same-sex marriage and adoption. Those four names: <strong>Mark Regnerus, Douglas Allen, Loren Marks, and Joseph Price</strong>. With the possible exception of Regnerus, these men are not household names to most Americans—and that under-the-radar status makes their agenda that much more dangerous.</p>
<p><img class="media-image media-image-left" id="2" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;;" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Douglas-Allen-214x300.jpg?itok=OZvm3PKZ" alt="" />First there's Doug Allen. A board member of the <a href="http://www.glaad.org/cap/jennifer-roback-morse">rabidly anti-LGBT Ruth Institute</a>—which, until recently was an affiliate organization of the the National Organization For Marriage—Allen has spent considerable time trying to shape public opinion against families headed by same-sex parents. As Zack Ford from ThinkProgress reports:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>[Allen's] primary focus has been his belief that the children of same-sex couples fare worse in school. In 2012, he <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/11/28/1251931/conservatives-apply-faulty-regnerus-method-to-other-same-sex-parenting-studies/">revisited a 2010 study</a> that had found that children of same-sex couples face no academic disadvantage, but applied Regnerus’ flawed parameter of children who were not biologically related to the head of household and who were not in the same home for at least five years — in other words, unstable homes. Under this new definition, he claimed that “children being raised by same-sex couples are 35 percent less likely to make normal progress through school,” blaming the problem entirely on same-sex parenting and not the unstable family structures that clearly impacted the result.</strong></p>
<p><strong>More recently, Allen has attempted a similar trick using data from Canada’s 2006 census, concluding,”Children living with gay and lesbian families in 2006 were about 65 percent as likely to graduate [high school] compared to children living in opposite sex marriage families.”</strong></p>
<p>FULL: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/11/18/2957551/michigan-regnerus-parenting/">Michigan Officials Will Defend Discrimination With Showcase Of Gay Parenting Pseudoscience</a> [ThinkProgress]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The researcher whose work Allen challenged on more than one occasion, Michael Rosenfeld, has responded to Allen's "revisiting" of his studies, taking down every one of his counter arguments (that's <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13524-012-0170-4?no-access=true">here but you have to pay</a>). Rosenfeld also told LGBT activist and writer Scott Rose:</p>
<blockquote><p>“<strong>I have had the funny experience of receiving phone calls from non-academics who have heard Allen describe his critique of my paper, and based on his (apparently misleading) description, are outraged against me. The outraged people who have heard Allen speak call me and want to know if I have read Allen’s critique. I say, “Of course I have read it, I published a response in the same journal <em>Demography</em>, right alongside the critique,” and they say “What journal was that?” because they have never heard of the journal <em>Demography</em>, much less read my papers in the journal.</strong>"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And that is <em>exactly</em> what Allen and his fellows want to happen: for their supporters to accept what they are saying at face value without digging any deeper. That's the agenda-motivated game they are playing for both political access and profit. That is the through-line that connects all of these groups, researchers, and "research."</p>
<p>Among the others scheduled to testify in Michigan, Joseph Price and Loren Marks are the least known. Price is an economics professor at Brigham Young University who <a href="http://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v50y2013i3p955-961.html">joined the aforementioned Allen</a> on his most recent twisting of Rosenfeld's work, and who signed on to an animus brief calling on the Supreme Court to uphold marriage discrimination; Marks is a professor focused on social work whose critiques of research that supports equality (particularly <a href="http://familyscholars.org/2012/06/12/loren-marks-how-the-apa-got-it-wrong/">that which has the support of the American Psychological Association</a>) is then used by the others to call into question the validity of LGBT families. Both are firmly planted members of this small crew that has taken on as a pet cause this work of undercutting our families. </p>
<p>Mr. Marks was part of a particularly telling moment back during the Proposition 8 trial—one which should tell you a thing or two about whether the agenda or sound research is more fully guiding his hand. Here's Zack Ford again:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Marks was also called to testify in favor of Proposition 8 back in 2010, but the team defending the anti-gay amendment ended up <a href="http://www.afer.org/press-releases/defendant-experts-undercut-prop-8/">not using his testimony</a> in the actual trial because he hadn’t actually read the studies he used to argue against same-sex parenting. He was trying to claim that children did best with their “biological” parents, but the studies he’d used actually included adoptive parents too. He <a href="http://prop8.berkeleylawblogs.org/files/2010/12/2010-11-01-proponents_-reply-brief-_exhibit-b_.pdf">admitted during deposition</a> that he had considered no research that actually evaluated gay and lesbian parents, and that his bias against same-sex families predated any of his scholarly research.</strong></p>
<p>FULL: <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2013/11/18/2957551/michigan-regnerus-parenting/">Michigan Officials Will Defend Discrimination With Showcase Of Gay Parenting Pseudoscience</a> [ThinkProgress]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Basically, this kind of work, which gains ground within the far-right circles eager to promote it (or even finance it), tends to break down under close examination. However, that only happens if we are persisitent in calling it out!</p>
<p><img class="media-image media-image-right" id="2" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: right;;" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Mark-Regnerus.jpg?itok=WjxH1YlL" alt="" />Which brings us to the last of "The Michigan Four." As I indicated earlier, Mark Regnerus is the one name who might be somewhat familiar to Michigan residents. However, the reason <em>why</em> Regnerus' name is more known is the very reason why his testimony against marriage equality should be taken with a grain of salt (if not the whole shaker).</p>
<p>Regnerus is the man behind <a href="https://www.google.com/#q=regnerus+study+flawed">the 2012 study</a> that far-right organizations both crafted and promoted during the last election and Supreme Court cycle, in hopes of changing the tide so that it goes against equality. Their hope was to add scientific heft to the idea that gay people are terrible parents who damage their kids, thinking that if they crafted this portrait of our families then Americans would also turn against protections in regard to things like marriage equality. Far-right groups recruited Regnerus to take on this work, and he did so with both gusto and glee (*we will learn more about the roots soon, as a court <a href="https://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/judge-orders-disclosure-of-documents-detailing-publication-of-regnerus-junk">just demanded the release of emails pertaining to the study's creation</a>). Regnerus likely didn't expect the blowback.</p>
<p>But the blowback sure came. Commentators, activists, reporters, and fair-minded researchers <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/rigorous-about-regnerus-media-poked-proper-holes-deflated-empty-claims">got on Regnerus' "study" early and loudly</a>, poking so many holes in his supposed findings that the whole thing has arguably done more damage to the anti-LGBT movement than it has helped them gain ground. The Regnerus study (as it is generally known) is so widely discredited at this point that it has almost become a conversation-ender for anyone who attempts to use it, as it shows that the person who is pushing it has a true agenda that is willing to overlook documented truth in order to push a pre-conceived narrative. But again, this only happened because folks were vigilant against Regnerus' work. People saw it for what it was (i.e. a really cruel effort to make same-sex parents seem damaging) and they were unafraid to CALL IT OUT!</p>
<p>And that is what we must continue to do. Those of us who are aware of what's going on must continue to connect the dots for the broader public. Many people, being of a general good nature, have a tendency to accept what they hear at face value, if the presented points have some sort of scientific language attached to them. It's easy to hear "researcher" or "study" and think, "<em>Ah, science—that must be true.</em>" And in a perfect world, that would be a safe way to carry on. Unfortunately, in the LGBT rights debate, "science" and "research" are not what they seem. Groups like the National Organization For Marriage have admitted that they are <a href="http://www.hrc.org/blog/entry/hrcs-exposure-of-nom-docs-reveals-dark-underbelly-of-anti-gay-movement">trying to build an "expert witness project</a>" stacked with folks who can lend a master's degree and a nice title to an agenda that is largely guided by personal faith opinion, a proud heterosexist outlook, and an unfortunate desire to subjugate certain kinds of Americans. Trusting Americans would never suspect such cynical and agenda-driven motivations.</p>
<p>When these four make their way to Michigan in hopes of denying the rights and protections of the local LGBT protection, we must make sure that the truth comes to light. That is <em>if</em> these four actually end up testifying, since, as I indicated earlier, their version of "research" tends to fare better as press release than it does as testimony. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">November 21, 2013</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/local-and-regional-news">Local and Regional News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">Marriage Equality</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/michigan">Michigan</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Wed, 20 Nov 2013 01:42:10 +0000jeremyhooper69055 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/when-research-really-research-look-michigan-four#commentsMark Regnerus was coached to pretend his study wasn't biasedhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/mark-regnerus-was-coached-pretend-his-study-wasnt-biased
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span id="styles-5-0" class="styles file-styles 750px"> <img id="5" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/750px/public/Mark-Regnerus%5B1%5D.png?itok=E_83wK4q" alt="" title="" /></span></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Even more evidence has now come to light that proves that Mark Regnerus' flawed <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/flawed-paper-claims-overturn-30-years-credible-research-shows-gay-and-lesbian-parents-are-good">study</a> of children raised by gay parents funded by the anti-LGBT Witherspoon Institute was intended to further their agenda, rather than shed any actual light on the topic.</p>
<p>Since it was published last year, the study has garnered huge amounts of criticism and controversy – and was <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht">called</a> "bullshit" by an editorial board member at the very journal that published it. The study claimed to find that households with same-sex parents were less supportive and nurturing than households with opposite-sex parents. On top of having been funded by the Witherspoon Institute, utilizing flawed research methods and undergoing faulty review processes, The American Independent has now <a href="http://americanindependent.com/219183/university-of-texas-professor-behind-controversial-study-wades-further-into-gay-marriage-debate">uncovered</a> a 'media guide' that was provided to Regnerus, which tells him exactly how to discuss his study, to further a conservative anti-gay agenda.</p>
<p>Among other things, the guide instructed Regnerus to say, "Every academic study is paid for by someone. Witherspoon approached us with a desire to independently examine the differences between young adults raised in a same-sex household and those raised in traditional, intact families... Witherspoon has played no role in the outcome of this study."</p>
<p>The message itself subtly highlights one of the biggest flaws in the study by claiming that Regnerus' respondents were, "young adults raised in a same-sex households and those raised in traditional, intact families."</p>
<p>In fact, the study actually compared homes with committed opposite-sex parents to broken homes headed by parents who had, at some point, had a same-sex relationship. These were hardly "same-sex households." Only two of the respondents were raised by a lesbian couple from birth.</p>
<p><img class="media-image" height="200" id="2" style="width: 425px; height: 200px;;" width="425" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/Witherspoon.PNG?itok=4dSVvOCz" alt="" /></p>
<p>Since the publication of the study, Regnerus has insisted that it was not politically driven. However, he signed an <a href="http://www.adfmedia.org/files/HollingsworthAmicusSocialScienceProfessors.pdf">amicus brief</a> opposing the repeal of DOMA and Prop 8 and is scheduled to speak at an upcoming National Organization for Marriage event. He has also written a <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/343616/pediatricians-and-gay-marriage-mark-regnerus">blog post</a> which said, "the science on same-sex parenting remains comparatively new, unable to keep up with political and legal developments. But those few population-based studies exist- that map what's going on across the country- seem to foster skepticism about moving quickly or universally to deny children their right to a mom and a dad." </p>
<p>The truth is the only studies that have fostered this skepticism are biased ones, such as his own. Whatever his personal opinion, this media guide seems to indicate once and for all that Regnerus was coached by his funders, and it seems even more likely that his conclusions were established well before research even began.</p>
<p>The most highly respected child welfare organizations and medical and psychological associations in the country understand that Regnerus' claims were not only incorrect but were also dangerous.</p>
<p>There are 2 million children, in this country, being raised by LGBT parents. While there have been many studies to suggest that kids raised by same-sex parents are just as well adjusted as those raised by opposite-sex parents, there have been no legitimate studies that showed anything different. The media did a <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/rigorous-about-regnerus-case-study-bullshit-detection">good job </a>of handling this study when it first came out, providing many consenting opinions and acknowledging the controversy surrounding it, and they must continue to do so whenever it is cited by anti-gay activists from groups like NOM or Family Research Council. Studies like this must be called out of their scientific falsities and their social dangers, and must only be acknowledged as attempts by the anti-LGBT industry to prevent full equality for all loving couples and families.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">April 12, 2013</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/witherspoon-institute">Witherspoon Institute</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/same-sex-families">same-sex families</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/marriage-equality">Marriage Equality</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:46:39 +0000hannahmoch64415 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/mark-regnerus-was-coached-pretend-his-study-wasnt-biased#commentsRigorous about Regnerus: a case study in bullshit detectionhttp://www.glaad.org/blog/rigorous-about-regnerus-case-study-bullshit-detection
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><img class="media-image" height="199" id="2" style="height: 199px; width: 425px;;;;;;" width="425" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/RegnerusBanner.JPG?itok=L7jHNE0g" alt="" /></p>
<p>As of last week, we now know two things, conclusively, about the report issued last year by researcher Mark Regnerus, which claimed to find - in opposition to years of legitimate research - that children of gay parents are worse off than their peers.</p>
<p>We found out last year that the "research" was, <a href="http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht">in the words of someone at the very journal that published it</a>, "bullshit" that should never have been published.</p>
<p>And now we know why it was published anyway.</p>
<blockquote><p><a href="http://americanindependent.com/218834/goal-of-ut-parenting-study-was-to-influence-scotus-decisions-on-gay-marriage-docs-show">Goal of UT parenting study was to influence SCOTUS decisions on gay marriage, docs show</a> [American Independent] </p>
</blockquote>
<p>There is no deniability: this skewed truth is out there in its most naked form.</p>
<p>Thanks to the work of bloggers, activists, national organizations, and independent journalists, we have incontrovertible proof that the colloquially branded "Regnerus Study"—which again, purported to say homes headed by same-gender couples are less stable, nurturing, and generally satisfying than those headed by different-gender couples—was crafted by far-right social conservatives in hopes that it would steer the U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in the upcoming marriage cases. </p>
<p><img class="media-image" id="2" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/RegnerusRedacted.jpg?itok=iOCMOqxc" alt="" /></p>
<p>But more than gloat about the confirmation of what those of us in LGBT activist circles suspected from the first moment we laid eyes on this study, I instead want to take a moment to applaud the American mainstream media for having the same suspicions, and more importantly, heeding them. The same social conservatives who fostered the study tried desperately to persuade the mainstream media to pick up its findings and apply them directly to the marriage debate. They have tried but failed, because journalists largely recognized this work for what it was; "bullshit."</p>
<p><em>The New York Times</em>' <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/health/study-examines-effect-of-having-a-gay-parent.html?_r=0">earliest report</a> is a good example of strong reporting that set the proper context. While being careful to say that there is a little bit of actual research attached to the study, writer Benedict Carey made it clear that the study did not even remotely apply to the debate to which its supporters wished to apply it. Carey noted the flawed sample (e.g. "<em>About half the study participants with a gay parent, as defined in the study, were born out of wedlock and half into a traditional family that broke up. Many lived with the gay parent sporadically</em>;" "<em>Just three of those who had lesbian mothers lived out their entire childhood with that parent, Dr. Regnerus said; none of those whose fathers had had a same-sex relationship lived full time with their fathers through childhood.</em>") and every single expert Carey quoted in his piece noted the "limited usefulness" in applying the findings to the marriage equality conversation. Carey's article made it perfectly clear that if there is anything at all to be gleaned from Regnerus' work, it speaks to other factors (e.g. divorce, fragmentation, family transition, etc) and not gay parenting in general. </p>
<p>The <em>Times</em> writer even included this damning quote from Regnerus himself: </p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Dr. Regnerus said that the study did not include the number, or variety, of people with a gay parent that he would have liked. “This whole narrative of a gay couple raising a kid together, staying together — that kind of thing didn’t exist much,” when the participants were children, he said. </strong>[<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/health/study-examines-effect-of-having-a-gay-parent.html?_r=0">SOURCE</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It takes a lot of brass to hear the researcher make such an admission and still try to apply it to the very narrative that he himself says he didn't examine. And of course now we know without question the reason that application was attempted. This "research" was never actually about research. It was about skewing the debate - <a href="http://americanindependent.com/218834/goal-of-ut-parenting-study-was-to-influence-scotus-decisions-on-gay-marriage-docs-show">even if it meant spitting in the face of science to do it</a>.</p>
<blockquote><p>(Witherspoon Institute president Luis) Tellez went on to explain that the crux of (Regnerus's) New Family Structures Study – whether kids raised by gay parents fare as well as those raised by straight parents – “is the question that must now be answered – in a scientifically serious way – by those who are in favor of traditional marriage.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p><img class="media-image" id="2" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/RegnerusRedacted3.jpg?itok=MclBAC22" alt="" /></p>
<p>This question "must now be answered," according to the group that funded the research, <em>by researchers who are already biased</em><em>. </em></p>
<p>This explains once and for all why anti-gay activists spent so much time and energy feeding the conservative media with pretense about the study, even using Regnerus' work <a href="http://www.goodasyou.org/good_as_you/2012/09/audio-new-nom-radio-ad-uses-discredited-regnerus-study-to-shun-gay-parents.html">in campaign ads during the 2012 election cycle</a>.</p>
<p>But to the mainstream media's credit, few bought the obvious spin. Virtually every outlet who ran a report led with the controversy surrounding it and gave more time to those who noted its obvious flaws rather than those who attempted to misuse it. ABC News' Medical Unit, for example, <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/study-gay-parenting-draws-criticism/story?id=16528374">ran a headline</a> about the study "spark[ing] criticism" and gave quote slots to three critics versus one supporter (from the exceedingly anti-LGBT Family Research Council). This is not an example of the "liberal media bias" that these same Regnerus supporters would surely accuse it of being. When the flaws are so sweeping, <em>that</em> becomes the story. It would be biased to give equal time to those who do not have the facts backing up their agendas.</p>
<p><img class="media-image" height="140" id="2" style="height: 140px; width: 425px;;;;" width="425" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/RegnerusRedacted2_0.jpg?itok=XGeRIfw2" alt="" /></p>
<p>But more than just the outside voices, some of the most damning comments came from Regnerus himself. This <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/study-gay-parenting-draws-criticism/story?id=16528374">same ABC News report</a> closed with this. from the researcher's own mouth:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>Regnerus said he has no opinion on whether the study supports or refutes the benefits of condoning same-sex marriages and parenting.</strong></p>
<p><strong>"This study really can't answer any political questions," he said. </strong>[<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/study-gay-parenting-draws-criticism/story?id=16528374">SOURCE</a>]</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This directly repudiated what the anti-LGBT groups tried to do with the findings. Heck, they are still trying to do it, with political special interest groups regularly citing it in their campaigning, amicus briefs, and rallying rhetoric. </p>
<p><img class="media-image" height="170" id="2" style="height: 170px; width: 200px; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;;;;" width="200" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/RegnerusCh7.jpg?itok=rNmjgIhj" alt="" />But while I somewhat credit Regnerus for being so frank about what he didn't find - no matter how desperately his funders wanted him to - he himself fostered the misinformation cycle. He's trying to have it both ways. In the past six months, Regnerus has appeared on advocacy panels alongside both of the National Organization For Marriage two cofounders, <a href="http://www.loveandfidelity.org/2012-conference-schedule/">Robert George</a> and <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/kids-need-both-mom-and-dad-says-gay-man-opposed-to-gay-marriage-89018/">Maggie Gallagher</a>. Later this year, Regnerus will appear at the annual conference of the Ruth Institute, which is also a project of NOM's Education Fund (*See Carlos Maza's eyeopening <a href="http://equalitymatters.org/blog/201208280001">undercover report form the 2012 conference</a>). These are not apolitical bookings that an independent researcher would make. Regnerus is not playing the part of a mere conservative researcher who did the best work that his purview would allow—he is playing the role of an agenda-driven activist whose own national tour schedules belies his own comments to the mainstream press.</p>
<p>Every single journalist, provided he or she is more interested with reporting than furthering a political agenda, has an innate bullshit detector. Real journalists know when a source is hiding something, or when a piece of information is wildly off-the-mark, or when an angle just smells funny. The anti-gay industry has proven time and time again, conclusively, that the media really needs to trust these bullshit detectors when it comes to their claims.</p>
<p>And when their bullshit is exposed as such? There's your story.</p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">March 18, 2013</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/issues/family">Family</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/nom">NOM</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/witherspoon-institute">Witherspoon Institute</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/marriage">Marriage</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/parenting">Parenting</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:05:21 +0000jeremyhooper63753 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/rigorous-about-regnerus-case-study-bullshit-detection#commentsJournal's Editorial Board Member Calls Anti-Gay Paper "Bullsh*t"http://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht
<div class="field field-name-field-blog-featured field-type-file field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p><img class="media-image" id="2" style="margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px; float: left;;;;;;" src="http://www.glaad.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/regnerus.JPG?itok=1CY1kBZq" alt="" />An independent auditor <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/27/596251/gay-parenting-bullshit/">has slammed</a> a paper released earlier this year by anti-gay activist Mark Regnerus, which garnered some national attention by <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2012/07/journals-audit-blasts-flawed-mark-regnerus-study-on-gay-parents.html">misleading</a> many to conclude that it found children of gay and lesbian parents fare worse than children of straight parents. The paper appeared in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0049089X12000610">Social Science Research</a>, which will also publish the results of an internal audit that found that that Regnerus's paper should never have been published in the first place. From Chronicle of Higher Education's <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/percolator/controversial-gay-parenting-study-is-severely-flawed-journals-audit-finds/30255?cid=at&amp;utm_source=at&amp;utm_medium=en">Percolator blog</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p style="margin-left:.5in;">Like Regnerus, the editor of <em>Social Science Research,</em> James D. Wright, has been at the receiving end of an outpouring of anger over the paper. At the suggestion of another scholar, Wright, a professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida, assigned a member of the journal’s editorial board—Darren E. Sherkat, a professor of sociology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale—to examine how the paper was handled.</p>
<p style="margin-left:.5in;">Sherkat was given access to all the reviews and correspondence connected with the paper, and was told the identities of the reviewers. According to Sherkat, Regnerus’s paper should never have been published. His assessment of it, in an interview, was concise: “It’s bullsh*t,” he said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The biggest problem was the fact that Regnerus's paper included very few children of gay and lesbian parents who self-identified that way, and were in committed relationships, raising those children together. The vast majority of those who were identified as being gay and lesbian parents were those who had been in any same-sex relationship, no matter how long, even extra-maritally, at any point after having children.</p>
<blockquote><p style="margin-left:.5in;">Because of how the paper was written, Sherkat said, it would have been easy to miss Regnerus’s explanation of who qualified as “lesbian mothers” and “gay fathers.” If a reviewer were to skip ahead to the statistics in the table, it would be understandable, he said, to assume that the children described there were, in fact, raised by a gay or lesbian couple for a significant portion of their childhoods.</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote><p style="margin-left:.5in;">In reality, only two respondents lived with a lesbian couple for their entire childhoods, and most did not live with lesbian or gay parents for long periods, if at all.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As for anti-gay activists' claim that the study was peer-reviewed?</p>
<blockquote><p style="margin-left:.5in;">In his audit, he writes that the peer-review system failed because of “both ideology and inattention” on the part of the reviewers (three of the six reviewers, according to Sherkat, are on record as opposing same-sex marriage). What’s more, he writes that the reviewers were “not without some connection to Regnerus,” and suggests that those ties influenced their reviews.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Since the study has finally <em>actually</em> been reviewed by a third-party with no personal connection to the author, now is the time for the media to report on it – and how anti-gay activists have resorted to frankly just making stuff up.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pubdate field-type-datetime field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><span class="date-display-single">July 27, 2012</span></div></div></div>
<div class="field field-name-field-issues field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/issues/news">News</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<!--
THIS FILE IS NOT USED AND IS HERE AS A STARTING POINT FOR CUSTOMIZATION ONLY.
See http://api.drupal.org/api/function/theme_field/7 for details.
After copying this file to your theme's folder and customizing it, remove this
HTML comment.
-->
<div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-inline clearfix clearfix">
<div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div>
<ul class="field-items">
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/mark-regnerus">Mark Regnerus</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item odd"><a href="/tags/chronicle-higher-education">Chronicle of Higher Education</a>, </li>
<li class="field-item even"><a href="/tags/anti-gay-industry">Anti-gay industry</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:26:37 +0000aaronmcquade58769 at http://www.glaad.orghttp://www.glaad.org/blog/journals-editorial-board-member-calls-anti-gay-paper-bullsht#comments